Vol. 11, No. 6, June 25, 2007

The criteria focused specifically on prompt payment of taxes and no deliquency either on real property tax or business tax per record from Tax Revenue Assessment and Collection System (TRACS). The City Treasurer's Office is encouraging other business establishments and institutions to pay their taxes religiously and promptly.  In a simple awarding ceremony over the weekend, City Mayor Lawrence Lluch Cruz urged Iliganons, particularly the business sectors and the rest of taxpayers, to work hand in hand in bolstering Iligan's economy. "With one hope, one dream and one voice, Iligan City can succeed more economically," Mayor Cruz added.

Cruz said Iligan City is facing lots of development opportunities. The City Government has just received the Land Bank of the Philippines' loan package approval of P500 million project, which will respond for sustainable, potable water supply for the next 15 years.  With the ongoing site development of Laguindingan International Airport in Laguindingan, Misamis Oriental which is only 60 kilometers from Iligan City and 20 kilometers to Cagayan de Oro City, more foreign investors will be interested to invest in the city thus giving more job opportunity for the people living nearby.

Mayor Cruz also announced the opening of C3 road network which will be opened in the interior part of Iligan. This will traverse from Linamon, Lanao del Norte to Santa Filomena, Iligan City to give farmers more easy access in bringing their agricultural products to the city and other areas as well, and will have an equal opportunity to compete in the market.

Through active efforts of the Regional Development Council Northern Mindanao, the proposed Panguil Bay bridge will connect Lanao del Norte to Misamis Occidental and Zamboanga Penninsula which will shortened the travel time and save transport cost for travelers and businessmen. Eventually, the Mainland Mindanao is the best opportunity to invest due to sustainable power and stable peace and order, Mayor Cruz said.  The recognition and awarding ceremony of outstanding taxpayers formed part of the recently concluded Iligan Charter Day celebration.

3 things that matter
Sat, 16 June 2007 08:55:43

Beautiful lives don't just happen. They are made, every single day -- with much love, prayer, and sacrifice. The many tasks we face each day can burden and oppress; but spending time with God each day can bring relief from stress.  Let us be reminded that in the end, only three things matter: (1) How fully you lived; (2) How deeply you loved; and (3) How gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.
--Julia Dy, Cebu, Philippines; forwarded from SMS, cell +639226794071

History book
Curious kid asks old man: "What book are you reading?"
Old man: "History book."
Kid: "But that's a sex book."
Old man: "Well, at my age, it is history."
--Igdono Caracho, Cebu, Philippines; forwarded from SMS +639177162000

EUROPEAN ESCAPADE.  Mike Lee (Batch '66), in photo, returned home to Edmonton, Canada last June 3 after a two-week summer escapade in Europe together with his wife Nancy and their two children.  It was an exciting whirlwind tour as they covered seven countries in two weeks, namely, England, France, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Belgium and Holland.  Among the famous spots they visited were London's Kensington Church, Albert Concert Hall, #10 Downing Street, Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace, and Harrod Place.  They crossed the English Channel to reach Calais, France.   Among the other cities they toured were Paris, France; Lucerne in Switzerland; Venice, Milan, Rome, and the Vatican in Italy; Munich, Germany; and Amsterdam, Holland.  Meanwhile, all set to go on a business with pleasure trip to Central Europe soon is Dr. Arthur Dy (Batch '75).  He is flying to Vienna, Austria on June 29 to attend an international conference of ENT specialists.  Accompanying Arthur is his wife Elizabeth Sy-Dy (Batch '75).  While there, they are sure to take a leisurely a stroll along the banks of the world famous Danube River and feast their eyes on the majestic Austrian alps.

WHIZ KIDS TURNED PRO.  More and more alumni whiz kids have turned professionals.  One of them is Ted Steven Tan, son of Truman Tan and Cristina "Sio Hua" Vy-Tan (Batch '70).  Ted is a fresh Computer Engineering graduate of the University of San Carlos (USC).  He recently joined Epson Software Engineering Philippines at the Asiatown IT Park, Lahug, Cebu City. Ted now joins a select team of systems engineers at Epson tasked to develop software for a host of electronic equipment and computer peripherals.  One of his colleagues in the team happens to be another alumni whiz kid turned pro, Derwin Dexter Sy. He was hired as systems engineer by the giant Epson company shortly after obtaining his B.S. Information Technology degree at USC last March. Derwin is the son of Nelson Sy (Batch '62) and Josephine Sy.

Henry L. Yu, M.D., Batch '69

It's 9:00 o'clock in the morning. A dashing manager of a multinational company garb in a long-sleeved white barong comes out from his car and takes the elevator towards the 10th floor of a high rise building. He goes inside the aircond haven and starts his day in the office.

What does this 36-year old young urban professional have in common with a 13-year old high school student of today? They both are torn between two different worlds, living in two different generations, the so-called sandwich generation. Both the teener and the yuppie have their own rounds of crises and predicaments. The teenager is torn between not being a child anymore but not yet a man. The yuppie is a working professional, torn between taking care of his family on one side and his aging parents on the other side, not to mention the litany of challenges that his profession entails.

Life is indeed a cycle. As one TV ad would put it "The baby is now a lady". Truly, yesterday's babies are today's teenagers. And yesterday's teenagers are today's yuppies, the thirty-agers (30 to 39 years old, born within the years 1968 to 1977). They have indeed come a long way from grade school to high school to college. And now they're into the business milieu of cyberkinetics and the I.T. world. Yes, they've been through a lot. And the higher they go up the corporate ladder, the more responsibilities and challenges there are.

Those born in the '50s or '60s would surely know how it feels to be a thirty-ager as they've been there once upon a time. For those born within the years 1968 to 1977, this is their moment. They are very much at it now as they are the thirty-agers, the yuppies of this dot.com generation.

Outside his workplace, the yuppie sure has other concerns, foremost of which are his role as a family man who would look into his own children and their needs, and as a good son of his aging parents who need his support, love and care and time.

Let me just share with you a very touching article that I've read about "The Senior Years" as written by a senior citizen herself. Here goes:
"Senior citizens get lonely when only the two of them are left in a big empty house as all their children have built lives of their own. Senior citizens eagerly await visits from their children and grandchildren. Senior citizens feel sad as the visits are not as often as they would want them to be because most schedules of free time do not coincide. Senior citizens also cannot impose their visits on their children especially on Sundays and holidays because they try to respect their privacy. The senior citizens' immune system is rather tired so even an ordinary bout of flu could knock them down for days on end. Likewise, with age comes diabetes and other ailments and their complications. Senior citizens are no longer productive and are relying on their savings to get them thru medical check-ups, laboratory tests, hospital bills, their daily maintenance drugs for diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. The senior years can be difficult. But senior citizens can draw strength from the fact that their security, their happiness resides within them. If they are blessed with the added bonus of love, care, concern and respect from the people they love then that should make them bow their heads in prayer and thanksgiving."

Faced with this scenario, how would a yuppie-son feel? How does he face the challenges of being a working professional, sandwiched between two generations, torn between taking care of his own family and his aging parents? This task is certainly not an easy one to tackle on the part of the yuppie as he has to work in order to survive while looking after his kids and taking care of his aging parents. He has to be careful with his dealings toward the young and the restless on one side, much as he has to be careful with his dealings toward the old and the restless, they who tend to become more sensitive as they get older.

On a positive note, what's the beauty of being a yuppie? Oh well, many things. At this point in his life, a yuppie could now afford to buy most, if not some, of the things he so desired when he was younger but never got the funds. At thirty something, most of his basic needs may now have been fulfilled, like the need to find someone to love and be loved in return, to be needed, to be acknowledged, to be given importance, to belong, etc. The younger set looks up to him as somebody more knowledgeable in terms of education, authority, experiences, etc. His subordinates greet him courteously and looks up to him with respect and high esteem. There sure are a lot more things to come, more privileges that a yuppie is afforded with, things that they didn't get the chance to have or experience when they were younger. And if only for these, a yuppie should be thankful for the blessings he has. He could only thank God for being one.

Like the article above, and I quote "The yuppie (senior) years can be difficult. But yuppies (seniors) can draw strength from the fact that their security, their happiness resides within them. If they are blessed with the added bonus of love, care, concern and respect from the people they love then that should make them bow their heads in prayer and thanksgiving." For isn't it a reality that today's yuppies will be tomorrow's senior citizens?

Memories of Batch '67
By Charles O. Sy
Batch 1967

At the top of the class is Lucio Choa Tan. He was our perennial valedictorian. Soft-spoken yet constantly focused with Zen-like discipline, Lucio seemed to have all the correct answers all the time. I lost count of the times when I pestered him to allow me to copy his test answers.  I guess the reason why I passed in many of our exams could be attributed to good feng shui: I was seated next to the brightest boy in class. Today, Lucio is a major player in the charcoal industry in Northern Mindanao.

There was this girl who excelled in a subject in which I failed miserably: Biology.  She was Lalita Uy. I often marveled at how she managed to memorize all those scientific jargons in our Biology class under Crisanta Alcover.  I couldn't even pronounce "lepidoptera" correctly, much less spell it. True to her calling, Lalita now runs a flourishing pharmacy in Iligan.

Another whiz kid in our class was Teresita Racines. She was our math whiz and consistent topnotcher in Algebra and Trigonometry. I remember her as always prim and proper and meticulous.  Not surprisingly, after high school she went on to major in math in college.  She is now a math professor at the MSU-IIT.

We also had Carlos Lim who was proficient in Pilipino.  I often wondered how a boy raised in Maputi, Naawan could be so proficient in a subject that most of us from outside Manila fared poorly.  One day, I couldn't suppress my curiosity and insisted he tell me his secret.  He laughed and told me he often watched Tagalog movies at King Theater.

Our class also had its superstar. Vivacious and outgoing, Melania Handumon was our undisputed dancing queen.  She was often chosen for lead roles in school dances. She was also a good party host. Many of us will forever cherish the memories of those weekends when we would invade their residence at corner Burgos and Zamora streets for dance parties, or what we in those days called "jam sessions."

In the field of sports, our aces were Virginia Ngo, Lily Leoung, Florentina Tan, Elsa Lagrosas, and Joselyn Ang, who made up a formidable quintet in women's volleyball. They, along with a few other amazons from other classes, comprised the school's volleyball team that gave the St. Michael's College belles a strong competition for the local PRISAA crown. Joselyn Ang was also our top bet in oratorical contests. And, of course, there was Aida Chou who was the muse of our class. Needless to say, many campus Romeos were smitten by her bewitching charisma.

We also had our share of mischievous boys. Leading the pack is Dionesio "Diony" Chiu. Gutsy and feisty by nature, he led us in all sorts of pranks and mischief.  Nobody among us dared mess with him because he could engage anyone to a fist fight at the slightest hint of provocation. I could never forget how Fidel Fuertes once admonished Diony when we were in Grade VI. He told Dioney, "If you are a tiger in your home, here in my class you are just a pussy cat like all the rest."  Well, Dioney finally met his match. Fuertes, as we all know, was widely known as the "terror" among our faculty.

Having one's own gang was the in-thing in those days.  In my case, I had Rudy "Nonoy" Co and Ramon "Ham" Balian as my gangmates.  We called ourselves the Cosy Boys.  Together we explored and shared many new discoveries and interests on and off campus.  We introduced and glamorized the use of Speedball lettering among our classmates and friends.  We also experimented with silk screen printing and printed our own t-shirts for our basketball team. We spent most weekends together in movies, table tennis, or biking around the city in pursuit of our juvenile dreams.  On many nights we flooded radio station DXIC with dedication letters for the girls of our fancy.  One element that galvanized our bond was our shared interest in music, specially the top hits of the era.  We often tried to outdo each other in learning to sing every latest song of the Beatles.   And perhaps the most memorable moment of all was when the three of us were caught chatting by Jesus Gillera during his lecture in our History class.  He was so pissed off that he summoned all three of us to stand in front of the class and gave each of us a kick in the behind.

Those were the days when time was aplenty and worries were few and far between.  And our classmates, with whom we spent a great deal of our time and shared much of our joys, were the people who made our high school life at LCHS the most cherished chapter of our youth.

In closing, it is but fitting that we dedicate this piece to the members of Class of 1967 on their Ruby Jubilee: Joselyn Ang, Ramon Balian, Aldo Caracho, Dionesio Chiu, Aida Chou, Rudy Co, Abraham Edusma, Jose Sam Go, Melania Handumon, Rosalinda Kaw Hoc, Elsa Lagrosas, Carlos Ong Lim (deceased), Lilia Lua, Lolita Lua, Lily Lueong, Virginia Ngo, Susan Ong (deceased), Teresita Racines, Alicia Singco, Charles Sy, Marcy Sy, Fena Choa Tan, Florentina Tan, Lucio Choa Tan, Josefina Tiu, Manuel Tee Tiu, Lalita Uy, and Alberto Yu (deceased).

Igdono U. Caracho, Batch '66

Bridges of Paris